


strength to start

by icouldbuildacastle



Category: High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-30
Updated: 2019-12-30
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:35:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22027909
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/icouldbuildacastle/pseuds/icouldbuildacastle
Summary: How many times had Nini stood on this front stoop? She remembered waiting outside, holding her mom’s hand and almost vibrating with excitement for playdates. And standing here, Ricky’s arms around her, as they took pictures for sophomore year homecoming. And just walking inside, no longer needing to knock, because she knew Ricky always left the door unlocked for her and she spent just as much time here as at her house.On second thought, yeah. That was probably why this felt so weird. Because she didn’t know if Ricky left the door unlocked in the afternoons anymore, now that Nini wasn’t coming over. Or maybe he did, but she couldn’t just walk in this time. She was going to have to ring the doorbell, like some sort of stranger, which she hasn’t done for years.
Relationships: Ricky Bowen/Nini Salazar-Roberts
Comments: 18
Kudos: 230





	strength to start

**Author's Note:**

> it's a fix-it/continuance of episode 8. are we surprised. pls enjoy
> 
> timeline here is that nini dropped kourtney off at home, swung by her house to drop off her stuff and eat an apple or smth and then decided she needed to talk to ricky like Now

Nini was strong, confident, and not afraid of confrontation. Or at least, that’s what she was telling herself. The fact that she was standing outside of Ricky Bowen’s house trying to work up the nerve to just knock on the door might have proven otherwise.

This was ridiculous. Why was she so nervous? She’d been to the Bowen’s house hundreds of times, and the front door looked the same as it always did.

How many times had Nini stood on this front stoop? She remembered waiting outside, holding her mom’s hand and almost vibrating with excitement for playdates. And standing here, Ricky’s arms around her, as they took pictures for sophomore year homecoming. And just walking inside, no longer needing to knock, because she knew Ricky always left the door unlocked for her and she spent just as much time here as at her house.

On second thought, yeah. That was probably why this felt so weird. Because she didn’t know if Ricky left the door unlocked in the afternoons anymore, now that Nini wasn’t coming over. Or maybe he did, but she couldn’t just walk in this time. She was going to have to ring the doorbell, like some sort of _stranger_ , which she hasn’t done for _years_.

 _Deep breaths. Okay, seven in, seven out. It’s just a freaking_ door _, Nini, get it together_.

Right as she raised her hand to ring the bell, the door swung open. Nini gasped and flinched back, nearly falling down the steps. Ricky’s hand shot out and grabbed her shoulder, steadying her.

“Woah!” he breathed, staring at her in concern. Nini couldn’t even find the breath to say ‘thank you’, and just stared back. After about three seconds Ricky seemed to realize how awkward this was and pulled his hand back, scratching the back of his neck shyly. Nini tried not to feel sad that he was no longer touching her, even in such a simple way. God, he made her _stupid_.

“Uh, sorry for startling you,” he apologized, doing that weird thing where he looked at some spot over her shoulder rather than directly at her face. “It’s just, I saw your car pull up and came to get the door.”

“Oh,” Nini responded, smiling reflexively. “Yeah, that makes sense.”

Ricky smiled back at her, looking her in the eye finally. And they stood like that, smiling and nodding slightly at each other for another few moments. Then Ricky looked off to the side once more and kind of cringed, stepping back into his house. “Come in! Sorry, didn’t mean to make you stand out there…”

Maybe it wasn’t the nicest thought, but Nini felt better knowing that she made Ricky just as nervous as he made her. Like maybe she wasn’t the only one who felt stupid when they were together.

.....

While the front stoop hadn’t changed a bit, the interior of the Bowen house certainly had since she’d last been here. There was dust on the pictures and side tables, clothes littering the floor, and a pizza box or five on the living room table. And a messy nest of blankets on the couch. Nini felt her heart ache a little at the signs of Mrs. Bowen’s absence.

“Yeah, uh, sorry about the mess,” Ricky was cringing once more, eyes darting around to all the clutter, lingering on the ominous pillow on the couch. “I was starting to clean when you got here, but clearly I haven’t finished yet. The kitchen is better, come on.”  
  
Nini pressed her lips together and trailed after him, not wanting to say the wrong thing. Was there even a right thing to say? Like, _I know your mom just left and it must be really hard to keep everything in order without her_? Or _, I don’t mind the mess, I know you and your dad are having a hard time_? Would that just make Ricky upset? Would it be condescending?

When had she stopped being able to talk to Ricky about anything?

The kitchen was indeed better, and it was clear to Nini that Ricky had been in the middle of doing dishes when he saw her car pull up in the window. The countertops and tables were wiped down, and it seemed like he had vacuumed recently, too.

“You did a nice job in here, it’s definitely cleaner than I’ve ever seen my kitchen!”

God, Nini wanted to shove the words back into her mouth. But she saw Ricky smile in that completely adorable lopsided way he had, even as he wandered over to the sink so she couldn’t see his face as well. Relief washed over her. Maybe she could still talk to Ricky and not fuck it up every time.

“Thanks Nini, but you don’t have to throw your moms under the bus to make me feel better. I’ve been in your kitchen, remember?”  
  
Oh, now he was d _efinitely_ smirking. Nini couldn’t stop herself from laughing, and sat at the table while Ricky washed the last pan in the sink. She resisted the urge to take her phone out to fake looking busy, and he turned back towards her while he dried his hands.

“So why’d you come over?” Ricky asked. That was the million-dollar question, wasn’t it? Why would she come over after that disaster by the piano? Maybe Nini’s apprehension showed on her face, because he immediately backtracked. “Not that you’re not like, welcome here! Because you are! Mi casa su casa and everything!”

  
“Thanks Ricky, you know you’re always welcome at my house too.”

Great, now Nini was thinking about the night he came over to her house in emotional distress, planning to stay over, and tried to kiss her. And she had pulled away. His face made it clear he was remembering that as well, and it looked kind of painful. It gave Nini a weird rush of courage. Clearly, he had still liked her a month ago. He hadn’t pulled away this afternoon, Big Red had startled them both into jumping apart. And now they were even on the score of failed attempts-at-kissing.

“Actually, I wanted to talk about what happened at rehearsal today,” Nina started, standing to lean against the table. This wasn’t the kind of conversation she wanted to be craning to look up at Ricky for.

“I’m, like, really sorry about that. I totally got us off track with talking about like, our past or whatever, and I won’t overstep like that again, I promise,” he rushed to assure her. It was really sweet how these days Ricky seemed to be stumbling over himself not to offend her. Nini still missed the confidence and sarcasm he used to have when talking to her, though. That came out for a little bit this afternoon when he refused to apologize for Thanksgiving.

“No, no, it was cool!” Nini soothed. “Ricky, really, it was totally fine.”

He didn’t really look convinced. Fair enough. _Fine_ wasn’t a very convincing word.

“I mean… I actually liked it. Remembering that we were friends for ages? And all the stuff we did together? It was really nice. It reminded me that I’m comfortable with you. Like, we were friends for ever before we dated, we can still be best friends now,” she finished softly.

Nini felt her cheeks burn as she spoke, but Ricky was smiling at her and his ears were bright red as well. It was, like, distressingly cute.

“I feel that too,” he replied. “You’re still my go-to, you know? Like with all the stuff that’s been happening with my family, I know you’re trying to be there for me. And I can talk to you about it. It means a lot.”

Ricky and Nini stood smiling at each other from across the kitchen, total dorks. This time, the staring didn’t feel as awkward. Still, after a couple seconds Ricky cleared his throat and scratched his neck again.

“Do you want to stay and do homework? Or like… good to go?” he asked, wincing at how horribly he had phrased that.

“Oh! Oh yeah, actually I dropped my backpack off at my house. So I’ll have to go home to do my homework,” Nini nodded at him, smile feeling frozen in place now.

“Cool. Cool,” Ricky nodded back, then gestured to the front door with his thumb. “So…?”

She nodded again, and headed back to the front door with Ricky following to see her out.

It was almost impressive how well each of them had maneuvered around their almost-kiss, managing a whole discussion about their private rehearsal with neither of them mentioning it. The avoidance was A+. Nini could walk right out of the Bowen house and continue with her life the way she had ever since she got cast in the school musical alongside her ex.

This was not what she came here to do. She so clearly came over to talk about them almost _kissing_ , and Ricky was being nice and giving her an out, and she was taking it. She didn’t want to go home tonight and write a song about how she was too afraid to speak honestly, too afraid to tell a boy about her feelings. If she had to write a song tonight about being shot down by a guy she had been in love with for ages (again), then fine. But she wasn’t going to miss her chance again.

She spun on her heel, and Ricky nearly ran into her. They were standing a bit too close, and he looked down at her with wide surprised eyes, but Nini wasn’t backing up. Not this time.

“No. You know what, no. That’s not what I wanted to tell you,” she started. “I thought about what I was going to say the whole ride over here, and I couldn’t figure out the perfect words but I’m not going to go home without even trying.”  
  


Ricky did not look soothed by her bold beginning, but Nini took a fortifying breath and plowed forward.

“I didn’t try to kiss you today by accident. I really like you, Ricky. Still. I don’t think I ever stopped, actually. And I get it if you want to stay broken up, but I want to try again.”

Ricky just blinked at her, mouth slack. Nini swallowed hard and felt the telltale prick of tears at the corner of her eyes. _Alright, well then-_

And then he kissed her, full on the mouth. Their noses bumped together and she was too startled to kiss him back for a second, but then she tilted her head and he held her cheek and _oh_. They haven’t forgotten how to do this. _This still works_.

It was so good to be kissing him again. She didn’t even mind that his lips were chapped. He still gripped her hips the same way, still opened his mouth against hers the same way. But now Nini needed to go up on her toes to reach him, because Ricky had grown like two inches since the summer. His curls still felt the same when she slipped her hand into his hair, and she delighted in wrapping the curls around her fingers like she always loved to.

Ricky didn’t stop kissing her for ages, not even when they both needed to breathe. He just pulled back enough to press kisses along her cheekbone, her jawline, to bite behind her ear. Finally, Nini dropped back down to her heels and Ricky pressed one, two more pecks to her lips, but she was smiling too big to really kiss back.

“You have,” Ricky was breathing hard, “no idea. How long I’ve wanted to hear you say that.”

Nini giggled, and rested her forehead against his shoulder. “I don’t know, since the first day of school, maybe?”

“Don’t be rude,” Ricky muttered into her hair, but she knew he didn’t mean it. After all, he was hugging her tight against his chest, and when he pressed a kiss to her head she could feel his smile.

“Should we sing ‘Everyday’ now, just to really Troy-and-Gabriella it up?” she teased.

Ricky groaned loudly, but lifted Nini and spun her around.

“I mean, if you really want. I know all the lyrics,” he grinned as he put her down.

“Wait- _seriously_?!” she yelped. “You _never_ wanted to watch the movies with me! Or listen to the soundtrack in the car!”

“Nini, if you honestly think I didn’t stay up and ugly cry listening to ‘Gotta Go My Own Way’ at least five times this semester, maybe we should just break up again.”

“I love you,” she said, not even thinking about it. But this time, Ricky just smiled softly back at her.

“I love you too.”

**Author's Note:**

> YES the title is a lyric from "Everyday" i HAVE to stay on brand!! (the brand in question being high school musical nerd). anyways please talk to me on tumblr @falsergod, and twitter @f4lsegods no one is yelling with me about this show and i need an outlet!! much love for all the characters except for ej, because fuck that shit lmao


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